


How to Rescue Your Boyfriend 101 - The Pirate Remix

by TylerAndAlexAndCeddyOhMy



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, M/M, Tampa Bay Lightning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-21 01:19:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16149530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TylerAndAlexAndCeddyOhMy/pseuds/TylerAndAlexAndCeddyOhMy
Summary: Sometimes your boyfriend gets kidnapped by pirates and you have to sneak off a rescue him, with just a little help from your friends.





	How to Rescue Your Boyfriend 101 - The Pirate Remix

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkone/gifts).
  * Inspired by [How to Rescue Your Boyfriend 101](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14261901) by [darkone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkone/pseuds/darkone). 



> I absolutely had to remix this story, for our mutual love of Alex and Andrej! I love your original SO much, I really hope I do it justice!!!

 

Andrej knew something was wrong when he saw Steven’s ship in the harbor. He hardly left the homestead in their hidden cove anymore, unless it was for something really important. 

Andrej boarded the ship, his stomach was sinking.  He grabbed the nearest deck hand. “Where is Steven?”

They guy shook him off. “How should I know?”

Andrej scowled at him but moved on until he found one of the boatswains, Jonathan. 

“Jo, where is Steven?” 

“Captain Stamkos is in his quarters,” He told Andrej, not meeting his eye. 

“What is going on?” Andrej tried. 

“You should see the Captain,” Jo said. “I have to go oversee the supplies being loaded. 

Andrej sighed as Jo rushed away from him. He hadn’t expected much from Jo, even though Andrej knew Jo was privy to everything that happened on the ship, especially things concerning Steven. 

Andrej made his way to Steven’s quarters, anxiety mounting. He made himself stop and knock on the door rather than barging in. 

Steven opened the door and ushered Andrej in. “Welcome back.”

“It’s good to be back,” Andrej said, standing up to his full height. “What’s going on?”

“You’re early, we weren’t expecting you until the afternoon. I was going to meet you on deck,” Steven said, shifting back and forth nervously. “Something happened while you were on shore leave.”

The nerves Andrej had been feeling since he’d seen Steven’s ship bubbled over. “What happened? Is it Alex? Is he ok?”

“Well, you see-“ 

“Just tell me,” Andrej snapped, surprising himself with how he’d spoken to his captain. 

“Coop got him.”

Andrej felt all of the fight drain out of him and he had to sit down in one of the high backed chairs around Steven’s table. 

Coop had once been a captain in their collective of privateers, under Steven’s command, but the captains and other officers voted to remove him because he had gotten bloodthirsty and ruthless. More a pirate then a privateer. 

No one had heard from him for nearly a year but just before Andrej had taken his leave Coop had resurfaced. He was terrorizing small coastal towns, murdering, pillaging, and kidnapping to fill out his crew and his bed. 

“How the hell did this happen?” Andrej asked, head in his hands. 

“It was a routine meeting,” Steven said, his voice steady where Andrej’s was shaky. “Everything was fine until Alex was ambushed on his way back to the ship.”

“When is the rescue?” Andrej asked as he stood up, finding his strength. 

“There’s not going to be one,” Steven explained, shaking his head. “Coop’s cove is completely inaccessible, he is the only one who has ever been able to navigate a ship in there.”

“Then we attack by land!” Andrej growled. “We have to get Alex back from that bastard!”

“It’s too dangerous. I won’t lose a ship and a crew to those rocks, Sustr.”

“That’s bullshit!” Andrej growled, pushing past Steven to get to the door. 

Steven caught his arm. “Don’t do anything stupid Andrej, we need you.”

Andrej wrenched his arm from Steven’s grasp and left without a word. If Steven wouldn’t rescue Alex then Andrej would do it himself. Andrej just hoped he would be able to get them both back in one piece. 

  
  
  


Alex sat in a cell for three days before guards came for him. They had been bringing him bread and cheese three times a day. He could reach the water store by dragging his ankle chain as far as it would reach and cupping his hand under the tap. 

Two men pulled him from his cell and on deck. Alex didn’t get a chance to look around before they started pulling his clothes off. Alex tired to fight them but the men had been joined by a third, and Alex, he had never been much of a fighter. 

The guards made short work of his clothes and immediately dumped a bucket of freezing water over his head. They gave him a hasty and cursory scrub with a bit of soap before dousing him again. 

One of the men shoved a towel and a clean set of Alex’s own clothes into his hands before the other two marched him into the, blessedly empty, captains quarters. 

One of the men remained as Alex dried himself and dressed. 

“Sit,” the man said as soon as Alex was finished. 

“Where am I and who is your captain?” Alex demanded. “I am a member of the Stamkos-“

Alex didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before the man grabbed him again. Alex knew he wasn’t a small man but this guy dwarfed him, he had to be nearly Andrej’s height. In short order he was thrown into one of the chairs and secured, with chains, before the man left. 

Alex wasn’t alone long enough to investigate his surroundings or the chains before two young men came into the room. They were carrying large, covered, silver platters, and a decanter of what looked to be red wine. 

Alex studied them as they set their burdens on the table in front of Alex then one of them made him a plate and placed it within his reach. They both looked scared, one had curly brown hair and bright blue eyes, he also looked resigned. The other had white blond hair with equally blue eyes that kept wandering to Alex and then darting away. 

Alex tried to question the blond both of the young men retreated as quickly as they’d appeared. 

The food smelled amazing; it made Alex’s stomach rumble after three days of nothing but bread and cheese. He turned his head to avoid looking at and smelling the food as much as possible because he was worried about it being poisoned. His head snapped to the other side when he heard the latch on the door. 

There was no way-

“ _ Coop?” _

_ “ _ So very sorry to keep you waiting, Alexander,” Coop said, swaggering over to the table. “I hope you’re hungry. Dig in.”

Alex eyed the food, even more suspicious of it now. 

Coop rolled his eyes and said, as though he was reading Alex’s mind, “It’s not poisoned, Alexander. If I wanted you dead you would have been dead on the street outside that pub, not kidnapped.”

“Then why am I here?”

“Because I recruited you,” Coop explained before picking up a fork and taking a bite of the meat on Alex’s plate. 

“I must say, your recruitment tactics may actually fall under the definition of kidnapping,” Alex snorted. 

“Semantics,” Coop shrugged, taking another bite from Alex’s plate. “Eat,” he urged Alex. 

Alex was satisfied that the food wasn’t poisoned so he began eating, voraciously. Coop served Alex a second helping of everything but Alex pushed it away halfway through. 

Coop set down a glass of red wine in front of Alex before taking a swallow of his own. 

“If I remember correctly you have quite a love for red wine.”

“I hate red wine,” Alex said, rolling his eyes. Coop knew full, good, and well that Alex only drank white wine. Alex leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Why am I here, Coop? What do you want?”

“You’re asking a lot of questions, Alexander,” Coop ground out between clenched teeth. “You know how I feel about curiosity.”

Alex rolled his eyes and snorted. 

“Very inelegant,” Coop said, pulling his hand back before letting it fly. “I’m just going to break you of that aren’t I?”

  
  
  


Andrej jumped when he heard a boot scrape behind him. He turned to find Slater standing there with his arms crossed. 

“You’re the least subtle person I’ve ever met,” Slater said. 

“What are you talking about?” Andrej asked, trying to hide the pistol in his hand behind his back. 

Slater rolled his eyes. “You’ve been visiting all of the ships under the guise of checking in with everyone after your shore leave but really you’re stealing guns from everyone’s armories.”

“I don’t know-”

“Just stop talking, you’re the worst liar. It physically hurts me to hear you try to lie. We’re going to help you save Alex,” Slater said, taking the pistol from Andrej’s hand and putting it back in its place. “So you can just leave this where it belongs.”

“We?”

“Me, Braydon, and the crew. Well sort of, most of the crew won’t really know what we’re doing until we’re well on our way, that way they can have plausible deniability,” Slater explained with a shrug. 

“Why would you help me?”

“Did you think we were going to let you run off on your own to get killed by Coop? Braydon and I were going to go right after he was taken but we knew we wouldn’t be back before your leave was over. Braydon suggested we wait so you wouldn’t run off half cocked with no plan.”

“I appreciate it, but I don’t need any help. And I don’t want you guys in trouble with Steven for me,” Andrej said. 

“Oh really, you don’t need any help? What exactly is your plan? You were going to sail a ship all by yourself?” Slater teased. 

“No, I was going to sneak off at the next port and hire a small ship to take me to Coop’s island,” Andrej said, petulantly, crossing his arms. 

“No one else can navigate those rocks Andrej, you know that,” Slater said, rolling his eyes. 

“I know, I was as going to have them drop me on the windward side,” Andrej said. 

“So you were going to navigate through the jungle and over the mountains instead?” Slater scoffed. 

“ _ Yes _ ,” Andrej said, annoyed that Slater was pointing out all the obvious holes in his plan. Andrej knew they were there he was just trying to ignore them. 

“And then your exit strategy was what?” Slater asked, smile playing on his lips. 

“Ok, you’ve made your point. I need help,” Andrej groaned. “But have you and Braydon thought this through? Steven just gave Braydon this ship, his own command, does he really want to jeopardize that for Alex?”

“Yes,” Slater said decisively. “Come on, let’s go up and talk to Braydon.”

Andrej followed Slater up to the Captain’s quarters. Slater made himself comfortable in the small sitting room. This was the only ship in their fleet that had one and it was  _ nice _ . Andrej had expected Steven to take this ship as his own when they’d commandeered it for the Crown but instead he’d gifted it, and the Capitancy, to Braydon, who’d been his First Mate for years. 

After they’d exchanged greetings Andrej asked, “How are we going to sneak out of the harbor? Even Jake will notice an entire ship leaving.”

Slater snorted. “He takes a nap every night between two and three.”

Andrej ran a hand over his face. “That’s probably something I should address, after we use it to our advantage. If Steven doesn’t kill or fire me.”

Braydon ran through the plan quickly, they were supposed to be leaving the next day for a patrol so the ship was fully stocked. Jake would be the only one who knew that they’d left early and he would probably keep it to himself. After that, it was as simple as going to Coop’s island and navigating the rocks. 

“You’re sure you can get us into the cove?” Andrej asked Slater. 

“Of course. I was stationed on Coop’s ship and he eventually taught me how to sail through the rocks,” Slater said. 

“But in a creepy way,” Braydon said. 

“Yes in a stand behind me, arms around me, hands over my hands, creepy, taught me how to sail through the rocks,” Slater said, nodding. 

Andrej shuddered. “Yeah, Coop has always had a penchant for handsome young men. Especially ones he thinks he can manipulate into doing something they wouldn’t usually do.”

“You think I’m handsome?” Slater asked, fluttering his eyelashes at Andrej. 

“Shut up,” Andrej said, kicking Slater’s chair. 

“Gentlemen, please refrain from breaking the new ship,” Braydon said, standing up. “I’m going to go send the night crew to bed so we can sail tonight.”

  
  
  


Two of the guards came back and threw Alex into another room. It was a lot nicer than his cell, but Alex saw the locks on the outside. 

“Wow, a roommate,” Alex heard a voice say behind him. 

He turned to see a slight, blond guy on one of the beds. One of his hands was chained to the wall behind the bed. 

Alex said on the empty bed across from Yanni, after studying him for a moment he said, “You look familiar.”

“I’m Lieutenant Governor Gourde’s son,” the blond explained. 

“Yanni,” Alex murmured. 

Yanni nodded. 

“You’ve been missing for a few years, has Coop had you this whole time?”

“Two years, four months, two weeks, and something like seven and a half hours,” Yanni said. “Yes Coop has had me for every second of it.”

“God, he’s only been out of the collective for a year or so,” Alex said, staring at Yanni, mouth wide open. 

“You’re Alex, one of Stamkos’ right hands, right?” Yanni asked. 

Alex nodded, he’d met Yanni a few different times at functions at the Governor’s mansion. 

Alex had known Coop was terrible, but the fact that he’d kidnapped and held the Lieutenant Governor's son for over a year, right under their noses really made him realize how far gone Coop was. Alex had been on this ship dozens of times while Yanni had been held captive. Hell, Alex had been on this ship while the collective had been  _ actively _ searching for Yanni. 

“I’m sorry. We had no idea,” Alex said, shaking his head, trying to clear his thoughts. 

“It’s ok, no one knew. I watched Coop gut the men who kidnapped us and I haven’t seen anyone since then, except for my father’s valet’s son and the son of a Russian dignitary, who were both taken the same time I was. Coop made them servants,” Yanni said. 

Just then there was a sharp knock on the door before it was unlocked. 

The two young men who had served Alex dinner entered the room and closed the door behind themselves, quickly. 

The brunet hurried to Yanni’s side and unlocked his hand from the chain. “This is Brett,” Yanni told him gesturing to the young man next to him. “And that is Alexey.”

Brett turned to Alex and unlocked his hands as well. 

“Thanks,” Alex said, rubbing his wrists. 

Brett nodded in acknowledgment and went back to Yanni’s bed, sitting next to him while Alexey joined Alex on the other bed. 

“Did you hear anything? Why does Coop want him?” Yanni asked Alexey. 

“Coop wants him to make him a collective. I do not know this word,” Alexey said, slowly, hesitantly, glancing at Alex. 

“He’s still learning English,” Yanni explained. 

“It would go a lot faster if he could practice with other people, not just us. Yanni’s first language isn’t even English. But Alexey is doing really well, he’s able to pick up information for us. Sometimes he doesn’t know exactly what he’s relaying but, it helps him learn new words,” Brett explained further, sounding proud of the young Russian. 

Alex nodded before turning to Alexey and saying, “A collective is a group of people, working together to for a common goal.”

Alexey nodded, excited, as realization came across his face. “Us. We are collective. To escape.”

Alex smiled. “You got it.”

“He wants you to make him a collective? Like The Stamkos Collective?” Yanni asked Alex. “All by yourself?”

“That’s what I do for Steven. I’m essentially a diplomat, I negotiate terms for ships, captains, and crews to join the collective.”

Brett nodded. “He wants a pirate collective. So he can do this to other people. Yanni, we have to get out of here.”

“I know, Brett. And I think Alex is going to be able to help us.”

  
  


“Slater says we’re almost there,” Braydon said, patting Andrej on the back as he threw up over the side of the ship. 

“How are you fine on the open sea and sick in straights?” Slater called from where he was expertly steering the ship through the razor sharp rocks leading to Coop’s cove. 

Andrej didn’t answer, he just made a rude gesture towards Slater. 

A few moments later Andrej pulled himself together and joined Slater and Braydon at the ship’s wheel. 

“So what’s the plan?” Andrej asked. 

“You don’t have a plan?” Braydon asked Andrej, raising his eyebrows. 

“No, I was going to have to pay someone to get me this far. I was hoping I could pay them to go with me to get Alex too,” Andrej shrugged. 

Slater rolled his eyes. “There’s a smaller cove up here that we can put into. Coop doesn’t use it often, the only time he did was when he was concerned that someone was at the main cove. So we put in there and sneak to the main cove by land. It’s a pretty easy walk, even in the dark.”

“Then what?” Braydon asked, fingering the gun at his waist. 

“You lead, love.”

“ _ That _ is the best plan I’ve heard,” Braydon told them with a smirk. 

  
  


The guards that had been shepherding Alex around all day threw open the door founding Yanni and Alex unchained, with Alexey and Brett clearly to blame. They called for more guards and the four of them were chained and escorted back to Coop’s chambers. 

Alex and Yanni were permitted to stand but Brett and Alexey were shoved to their knees to await their fate. 

Soon Coop appeared, untying the hooded cape he’d been wearing and letting it fall to the floor. 

“Hello boys,” Coop said cheerfully. “My guards tell me you’ve all been very naughty.”

None of them spoke, Alex caught Yanni’s eye and rolled his eyes. Yanni tried to stifle his laughter but he caught Coop’s attention. 

Coop strode over and grabbed Yanni by the face. “Are you amused, Yanni? Is there something funny? You’re absolutely useless to me. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t throw you overboard right now.”

“Because we’re in the middle of a shallow cove and he can swim,” Brett muttered and got the back of Coop’s hand to the side of his face for it. 

“Be glad you’ve proven yourself a good servant or you would be joining him,” Coop snarled in his face. 

“I don’t think you want to hurt Yanni,” Alex said, evening, trying to calm him. Coop always trusted him. 

“And why is that Alexander?” Coop asked, sweetly. 

Alex was good at schooling his features while negotiating, so he it didn’t show how thrown he was by the one eighty in attitude Coop had just pulled. 

“You’re trying to build something here right? That’s why you… brought me here. You want to build something and if word were to get out that you killed the Lieutenant Governor's son then the full might of the military and all the privateers will be sent after you. And eventually they  _ will _ find a way into your cove,” Alex explained, hoping Coop wouldn’t question him because there were holes in his reasoning. 

Coop considered what Alex had said for a few moments before nodding. “You’re right, as always, Alex. But, I’m going to make you responsible for him. If he makes any trouble, you’ll be in trouble too, ok?”

Alex nodded. “I understand.”

“You two, back to work. And no releasing prisoners, ok?” Coop said, brushing a hand over Brett’s already bruising cheek. 

“Yes, Coop,” Brett managed to say through gritted teeth as he stood up. 

Alexey stayed kneeling with a blank look on his face until Brett pulled him to his feet and towards the door. 

“I’ll have you two taken back to your room,” Coop said, stroking Yanni’s hair. “And tomorrow, Alex and I will begin work.” 

  
  


“We have to be careful,” Slater said in a hushed voice to Andrej while Braydon looking around a corner. “We don’t know who is here willingly and who is here because Coop kidnapped them.”

“I think it will be easy to tell,” Braydon said, pointing down the narrow hallway. 

There was one man running towards them with a cutlass in his hand and a young man doing his best to hide in a doorway. 

Braydon easily disposed of the pirate with the cutlass and slowly approached the young man, who now looked terrified, rather than just worried. 

“I won’t hurt you,” Braydon told him gently. “We can help you escape. We’re looking for our friend. He was brought here a few days ago.”

“Alex?” The young man asked. 

“Yes!” Andrej said. He pushed past Slater to rush towards the young man. “Do you know him?”

“I know Alex. I am Alexey. I will bring you to Alex,” Alexey told them. He turned and motioned them to follow. Braydon moved past him and instructed Alexey to give him directions. 

With Alexey’s help identifying friend from foe they made their way through the ship quickly. As Slater and Andrej walked calmly behind Braydon, Slater smiled everytime his boyfriend knocked someone out. After a particularly impressive mauver Slater elbowed Andrej and gestured at Braydon’s back. “Nice, right?” Slater asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Alexey stopped and pointed to a heavily locked door. “Yanni room,” He told them. “Have to find Brett, he needs to rescue.”

Alexey ran off down the corridor before they could stop or even say anything to him. 

“Shit, are we going to have to break down this door?” Andrej asked, toeing at the door with his boot.

Braydon surveyed the door for a moment. “I can’t break this down. It’s solid wood and several inches thick.”

“Someone around here has to have keys,” Andrej said, back tracking down the hallway a few steps to poke at the pockets of a man who lay there, unconscious. 

Slater shrugged and joined Andrej while Braydon watched the hallway. 

“Someone is coming,” Braydon whispered moments later. 

Slater and Andrej stood up and got their weapons ready, just in case. 

Alexey appeared with another young man behind him. 

“You didn’t get,” Alexey said, gesturing wildly to the still closed door. 

“We can’t get in it’s too thick,” Andrej explained, sounding desperate. 

The young man with Alexey, presumably Brett, muttered what sounded like a few words in badly accented Russian to Alexey before pushing past him, pulling keys from his pocket. 

“He has a set of these too, he just forgot to leave them with you,” Brett explained as he went to work opening the locks. 

Once all the locks were open Andrej pushed past Brett and into the room. 

“Andrej?”

“Alex!”

Alex jumped off the bed he’d been lounging on and ran to Andrej, who gathered him in his arms and cradled him to his chest. 

“Are you ok?” Andrej asked into Alex’s hair. 

Alex nodded before Andrej held him at arms length. “Are you sure? Are you ok? Did he hurt you? Did he lay a hand on you?”

Alex hugged Andrej again, rubbing his face against Andrej’s neck. “Yes, I’m fine. I promise.”

“And this, is Yanni,” Slater said, glancing at Braydon with a smirk. 

Brett stooped to unlock the manacles around Alex’s ankles. 

“That bastard chained you up?” Andrej asked, outraged. 

Yanni and Brett spoke at the same time. 

“Why are they looking at me like that?” Yanni asked. 

“I always come and unlock them as soon as the guards are gone,” Brett explained as Alex’s chains rattled to the floor. 

Alex patted Brett’s curls and said, “He does.”

Then he looked to where Slater and Braydon were whispering and glancing at Yanni. “You two, stop being weird.”

Slater looked guilty but Braydon just shrugged. 

As soon as Brett unchained Yanni, Braydon said, “We need to leave before someone alerts Coop.”

“How are we getting out of here? I’m sure you didn’t just pull up next to this ship,” Alex asked. 

“How did you even get into the cove?” Yanni asked. 

“All will he revealed,” Slater said with a smirk. “After we get the heck out of here.”

Yanni looked from Slater to Alex. “You have some very strange friends.”

“Do you want to be rescued or not?” Alex asked, laughing and wrapping his arms around Andrej again. 

Yanni didn’t bother answering him he just herded Brett and Alexey behind Braydon as he led them out the door. 

“Is there anyone else who needs to be rescued?” Slater asked as they back tracked down the hallways. 

“No one else is kept prisoner,” Brett explained. “The ones who want to leave always find a way when we put in port.”

They made their way back through the ship, most of the crew stood back, fearing Braydon. A few stepped up to challenge them but Braydon made quick work of them. 

When they got to the stairs that would take them up to the deck Braydon stopped everyone halfway up. 

“Let me go topside by myself, just in case there’s trouble,” he told them before climbing the rest of the stairs. Slater followed him up onto the deck. 

Coop’s voice echoed down the stairwell. “You didn’t think it would be that easy to steal my crew did you Braydon?”

“You’re outnumbered here, Coop,” Slater said. “None of your so-called crew is going to help you.”

Coop ignored Slater’s outburst and said, “Braydon, I’m willing to forgive you if you give me back Alex and join my crew. I’ll even give you Yanni as a reward.”

Braydon scoffed, and Slater yelled, “My boyfriend does not want that skinny little blond you had chained to a bed for years!”

Slater then turned and yelled down the stairs, “No offense, Yanni!”

“Offense definitely taken,” Yanni answered, but Slater had already turned his back on them. 

“Fine, just give me Alex and I will let you leave with your boyfriend Braydon,” Coop said, ignoring Slater, again. 

“Fuck you, Coop! You cannot have Alex!” Andrej yelled, starting up the stairs. 

“I know you’re the reason Alex wants to leave, Andrej,” Coop called. 

“Stay back,” Slater said, but Andrej pushed past him as Coop leveled his weapon at him and pulled the trigger. 

The blunderbuss seemed to jam, because nothing happened. No one moved for a moment, then Coop tipped the gun up to look down the barrel muttering, “What the fuck?”

The gun discharged in his face throwing him backwards against the railing before slumping to the deck. 

“Holy shit,” Alex gasped, coming up the stairs with the others trailing behind him. “Is… is he dead?”

“I don’t know! Probably, yes! Who cares? Let’s go!” Slater said, grabbing Braydon’s wrist and pulling him towards a gangplank. 

They hurried through the jungle towards the smaller cove where the rescue party had left Braydon’s ship. They paused a few times to listen, but there was no sound of a pursuit. 

Once they were safely on deck Andrej sighed in relief and pulled Alex to him again. 

“Please get some space ready for these gentlemen,” Andrej said to Braydon’s boatswain, gesturing to Alexey, Brett, and Yanni, over Alex’s head.

Slater had them sailing within minutes of boarding, but it was slow going. 

“Slater, can we go any faster?” Andrej asked, hovering behind where Slater was carefully navigating the ship through razor sharp rocks. 

“Sure, if you’re ready to die,” Slater said cheerfully. 

“It’s just, if we push hard then we can get back at the right time and Jake will be the only one who will know we left early,” Andrej said, desperately.  

“I’m doing what I can, Andrej, but I have to go slow until we clear rocks,” Slater explained gently. 

“Why does it matter when we get back?” Alex asked, confused. 

Everyone was quiet for a moment before Alex said, “My rescue wasn’t sanctioned was it?”

“Not - exactly,” Andrej said with a pause. 

“Not at all,” Slater piped up as he executed a tricky maneuver at the ships wheel.

“Ok, I’ll start coming up with our cover story,” Alex groaned, rubbing his hand over his face. “I’m the only one Steven believes anyway.”

“Make sure you come up with something to explain where we picked up the Lieutenant Governor’s son, and the Russian Diplomat’s son, and —,” Slater said before Alex cut him off. 

“I got it, Slater. Thanks,” Alex grumbled. 

  
  
  


“Damn it, I knew we wouldn’t make it back in time,” Andrej groaned, scanning the harbor.

“It’s fine,” Slater said. “It’s still early, and it’s Jake. He starts late almost every morning.”

“Almost,” Braydon said a moment later when they saw Jake standing on the dock waving his arms at them.

Slater and the dock hands quickly and efficiently docked the ship. Jake was waiting for them at the end of their gangplank.

“What the fuck, Slater?” Jake yelled when they were halfway down. “We have a  _ schedule.  _ A harbor schedule! And you’ve messed it up  _ twice _ now. This harbor cannot run efficiently if we don’t  _ follow the schedule _ .”

“Jake, seriously, we aren’t that late,” Slater said, placating, placing his hand on Jake’s shoulder.

“Get off me,” Jake said, shaking Slater’s hand off of him and running over to the ship. “What is this? What the fuck is this Slater?”

“It’s just a scuff, Jake, just a scuff,” Slater said.

“A  _ scuff _ ? Slater this ship needs significant repairs! If you go back out in this and encounter a storm that area could buckle and the ship would sink!” Jake started yelling throwing his hands up in the air before turning around to face Slater again. “What the hell were you -- oh. Who is--?  _ Yanni _ ? Yanni. Hi.” 

“Hi Jacob,” Yanni said with a smile.

“Jake, ask you can see, Yanni, and his friends, have some minor injuries that need to be seen to. Why don’t you take them to Cally and get them patched up?” Slater suggested.

Jake put an arm around Yanni’s shoulders and led him off without a word or a backwards glance to make sure Brett and Alexey were following.

“And let Yanni write a letter to his father for us to send out right away,” Alex called along behind them.

“My plan worked flawlessly!” Slater wiped imaginary dust off his shoulder.

“Executed perfectly, babe,” Braydon threw an arm around Slater.

Alex snorted. “Sure, you had some grand, master plan to distract Jake with Yanni. Who you had no idea was with me on Coop’s ship.”

“Obviously I formed the plan  _ after _ we rescued you guys,” Slater countered.

“Sure, Slater,” Andrej said, rolling his eyes.

“Ok guys, let’s get moving, if we move quickly enough no one but Jake will ever know what happened,” Alex said.

No one answered, they just stared over Alex’s shoulder. He turned and saw Steven hurrying down the dock toward them.

“Captain!” Alex said by way of greeting. 

“Uh, sir we were just--” Andrej started.

“No need to explain, Andrej,” Steven said with a smile. “Alex has returned to us, he managed to escape Coop’s clutches and save the Lieutenant Governor’s son, a Russian Diplomat’s son, and the son of a personal friend of mine, and make their way to a port where he knew Braydon’s ship would be stopping in.”

Alex and Andrej exchanged a confused look.

“Very dangerous,” Steven continued. “You could have been followed, or grievously injured while rescuing others.”

Andrej was confused and wondered if he should correct Steven or let it go.

“Braydon?”

“Yes, sir?

“Is that story believable? Can we give it to the Lieutenant Governor and the Russian Ambassador?” Steven asked.

“Very plausible,” Braydon said. 

“Good, I’ve been working on this all night,” Steven told them with a proud grin.

“Wait, you knew I was going after Alex?” Andrej asked.

“Of course I did. And I made sure you would succeed. Did you think it was a coincidence that Braydon and Slater caught you on their ship, rather than someone else? Slater who just so happens to be the only person who can navigate to Coop’s cove and Braydon who has his own ship now...” Steven said, trailing off.  

Slater and Braydon wandered off down the dock towards the homestead. 

“So, I’m not in trouble?” Andrej asked, hopefully.

“You are definitely in trouble,” Steven told him, shaking his head. “You’re confined to your quarters on the homestead for a week, both of you. So Alex can recover from his ordeal.”

Alex and Andrej nodded. “That’s fair,” Andrej said.

“I guess you two won’t be taking shore leave separately anymore,” Steven said, smiling.

“Not a chance,” Andrej said, draping an arm around Alex’s shoulders and dropping a kiss on his forehead.

“Go, go, to your quarters,” Steven said, shooing them up the dock.

“You saved me,” Alex said, sitting down on the edge of their bed.

“It was mostly Slater and Braydon,” Andrej said, moving to kneel between Alex’s feet and wrap his arms around his waist.

“No, it was you. They came because you came,” Alex said, running his fingers through Andrej’s hair.

“I missed you,” Alex said. “Even before Coop kidnapped me. I never want to be apart from you for that long again.”

“Never again,” Andrej promised, from where the side his face was pressed up against Alex’s stomach. “I thought I lost you.”

“I though so too, for a little while,” Alex admitted. “Do you remember when we met?”

“Of course, we both went to visit Heddy in the kitchen and got so caught up in each other while we were eating we stayed below decks so long we missed a meeting with Steven where you were supposed to be meeting the other Captains in the collective.”

“I thought Steven was going to fire me before I actually did any work,” Alex lau ghed. “Come on, come up here.”

Alex tugged Andrej up onto the bed and wiggled upwards to lay on their pillows at the top of the bed.

“I thought you were going to get fired too,” Andrej said, taking Alex’s hand. “I was ready to go to bat for you with Steven.”

“But he took one look at us…” Alex said.

“And he knew,” Andrej finished.

“He knew.”


End file.
